The aim of the present study was to evaluate the diagnostic value of plasma human cystatin-S (CST4) in patients with digestive system malignant tumors. CST4 and tumor markers, such as α-fetoprotein (AFP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen (CA)199, CA125, CA153 and CA724, were detected in blood samples from 100 patients with a digestive system malignant tumor and 100 patients with benign digestive system diseases. The tumor markers AFP, CEA, CA199, CA125, CA153 and CA724 were detected using an electrochemiluminescence immunoassay, and CST4 levels were detected using a human CST4 ELISA kit. The results demonstrated that the sensitivities of AFP and CA153 (both 5.00%) were significantly lower than that of CST4 (38.00%) in the diagnosis of digestive system malignancy (P<0.001), and CA724 (18.00%) was also less sensitive than CST4 (P<0.05). The sensitivities of CA199 (26.00%), CEA (31.00%) and CA125 (25.00%) were similar to that of CST4 (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the CEA, CA125, CA724 and CST4 specificities (P>0.05), which were 91.00, 95.00, 94.00 and 83.00%, respectively. The specificities of AFP (99.00%), CA199 (98.00%) and CA153 (100.00%) were significantly higher than that of CST4 (P<0.01). By constructing a receiver operating characteristic curve and comparing the area under the curve as well as sensitivity, the findings of the present study demonstrated that combining CST4 with AFP, CEA, CA199, CA125, CA153 and CA724 can significantly enhance the diagnostic sensitivity for malignancies of the digestive system. However, the introduction of CST4 into the traditional diagnostic groups (CEA + AFP, CA199 + CA125 + CA153 + CA724 and AFP + CEA + CA199 + CA125 + CA153 + CA724) resulted in an increased sensitivity and loss of specificity, thereby not offering significant advantages in terms of comprehensive diagnostic efficiency compared with the traditional diagnostic groups. In conclusion, CST4 detection may be a promising diagnostic tool. Nonetheless, the potential false positive results in tumor diagnosis should be taken into consideration when developing new diagnostic groups involving CST4.

Cancer has currently become a serious public health issue in many countries worldwide, and tumors of the digestive system have attracted an increasing number of researchers\' due to their numerous types, high proportion and wide area of occurrence. While tumors of the digestive system suffer from high mortality rates, leading to untimely diagnosis and a poor prognosis, making it necessary to update current treatment approaches such as surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. This highlights the importance of exploring novel therapeutic ideas and targets. Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history of clinical use due to its low toxicity and multi-factor targeting of multiple pathways. As a kind of traditional Chinese herb, S. nigrum Linn. is highly regarded for its proven antitumor activity. The aim of this study was to comprehensively recapitulate and analyze the anti-cancer effects and molecular mechanisms of treatment of gastrointestinal tumors with S. nigrum Linn. extracts and related compounds, including classical signaling pathways mediated by them as well as noncoding RNA pathways associated with tumor suppression. Components that have been found to be responsible for the anti-cancer activity of S. nigrum Linn. include solanine, solasonine, solamargine, a-L-rhhamnopyranose, uttroside B, degalactotigonin, glycoprotein, and other compounds. The underlying mechanisms of anti-cancer activity reflected in this study include apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, autophagy, anti-angiogenesis, suppression of metastasis and invasion, immune escape, and increased sensitivity to radiotherapy. S. nigrum Linn. has great potential in the treatment of tumors of the digestive system, and through further clinical trials and pharmacological mechanisms it has the potential to become a uniform and standardized anti-tumor drug.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic value of circulating microRNA-29 (miR-29) in digestive system malignant neoplasms by meta-analysis.
METHODS: We searched the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science to collect studies, published through September 2022, on the diagnostic value of miR-29 in digestive system tumors.
RESULTS: We included 7 studies in this meta-analysis, including colorectal cancer, esophageal squamous cell carcinomas, and cholangiocarcinoma. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio were 0.64 (95% CI, 0.53-0.74), 0.83 (0.60-0.94), 3.75 (1.42-9.91), 0.44 (0.31-0.61), and 8.63 (2.54-29.26), respectively. The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.75. The sensitivity of miR-29 derived from serum was higher than that of miR-29 derived from plasma for malignant digestive system tumors (0.71 vs 0.54; P = .04).
CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis suggests that the circulating miR-29 family has good diagnostic performance for digestive system malignant tumors, with moderate sensitivity and good specificity.

Many digestive system malignant tumors are characterized by high incidence and mortality rate. Increasing evidence has revealed that the tumor microenvironment (TME) is involved in cancer initiation and tumor progression. Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) are a predominant constituent of the TME, and participate in the regulation of various biological behaviors and influence the prognosis of digestive system cancer. TAMs can be mainly classified into the antitumor M1 phenotype and protumor M2 phenotype. The latter especially are crucial drivers of tumor invasion, growth, angiogenesis, metastasis, immunosuppression, and resistance to therapy. TAMs are of importance in the occurrence, development, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of common digestive system malignant tumors. In this review, we summarize the role of TAMs in common digestive system malignant tumors, including esophageal, gastric, colorectal, pancreatic and liver cancers. How TAMs promote the development of tumors, and how they act as potential therapeutic targets and their clinical applications are also described.

Chronic inflammation, through a variety of mechanisms, plays a key role in the occurrence and development of digestive system malignant tumors (DSMTs). In this study, we feature and provide a comprehensive understanding of DSMT prevention strategies based on preventing or controlling chronic inflammation. The development and evaluation of cancer prevention strategies is a longstanding process. Cancer prevention, especially in the early stage of life, should be emphasized throughout the whole life course. Issues such as the time interval for colon cancer screening, the development of direct-acting antiviral drugs for liver cancer, and the Helicobacter pylori vaccine all need to be explored in long-term, large-scale experiments in the future.

The digestive system malignant tumors (DSMTs), mainly consist of digestive tract and digestive gland tumors, become an inescapable culprit to hazard human health worldwide. Due to the huge hysteresis in the cognitive theories of DSMTs occurrence and progression, advances in medical technology have not improved the prognosis. Therefore, more studies on a variety of tumor-associated molecular biomarkers and more detailed disclosure on potential regulatory networks are urgently needed to facilitate the diagnostic and therapeutic strategies of DSMTs. With the development of cancer bioinformatics, a special type of endogenous RNA involved in multi-level cellular function regulation rather than encoding protein, is categorized as non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) and becomes a hotspot issue in oncology. Among them, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), transcription length > 200 nt, show obvious superiority in both research quantity and dimension compared to microRNAs (miRNAs) and circular RNAs (circRNAs). As a recently discovered lncRNA, LINC00511 has been confirmed to be closely associated with DSMTs and might be exploited as a novel biomarker. In the present review, the comprehensive studies of LINC00511 in DSMTs are summarized, as well as the underlying molecular regulatory networks. In addition, deficiencies in researches are point out and discussed. The Cumulative oncology studies provide a fully credible theoretical basis for identifying the regulatory role of LINC00511 in human DSMTs. LINC00511, proved to be an oncogene in DSMTs, might be defined as a potential biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis evaluation, as well as a rare therapeutic target.